The October 2014 issue of Astronomy Now is on sale! Order direct from our store (free 1st class post & to UK addresses). Astronomy Now is the only astronomy magazine specially designed to be read on tablets and phones. Download the app from Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.

Top Stories

Earthshine used to test life detection method
...By imagining the Earth as an exoplanet, scientists observing our planet's reflected light on the Moon with ESO's Very Large Telescope have demonstrated a way to detect life on other worlds...READ MORESolid buckyballs discovered in space
...Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have detected a particular type of molecule, given the nickname “buckyball”, in a solid form for the first time...READ MORESteamy water-world gets the Hubble treatment
...Hubble Space Telescope observations of a 7 Earth-mass planet find an unusual water-rich world swathed in a thick, steamy atmosphere...READ MORE

The supernova explosions in faraway galaxies that are used to measure the expansion of the Universe may be caused by the mergers of two white dwarfs, rather than single white dwarfs exploding, say new observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. But don’t panic – the concept of dark energy is still safe.

An animation dramatically showing the merger and destruction of two white dwarfs.

White dwarfs are the burnt-out husks of dead stars that were once like our Sun, and they are involved in a special type of stellar explosion called a Type Ia supernova. These are special because they all supposedly have the same intrinsic luminosity when they explode, so by directly comparing them we can tell which are near and which are far. Astronomers call them ‘standard candles’ and they are crucial for measuring how fast dark energy is carrying galaxies away from us.

For decades the best theory for why white dwarfs explode was that they strip gas from the surface of a companion star, which flows into a glowing disc of hot gas around the white dwarf, gradually accumulating on its surface. This gas can reach millions of degrees Celsius, emitting X-rays. Once the white dwarf grows in size to greater than 1.4 times the mass of the Sun (a level called the Chandrasekhar limit), runaway nuclear fusion reactions ignite on the surface, quickly converting the entire white dwarf into an immense thermonuclear explosion. Because they all explode with the same 1.4 solar masses they should then all have the same luminosity.

Merging white dwarfs appear to cause Type Ia supernovae in elliptical galaxies. Sun-like stars eventually evolve into white dwarfs; one can imagine a binary star system with two Sun-like stars one day leaving behind a pair of white dwarfs that over millions of years slowly spiral towards one another before merging and exploding. Image: NASA/CXC/M Weiss.

The X-rays being emitted from these discs of hot gas should leave a background glow of radiation in each galaxy. However, when astronomers Marat Gilfanov and Akos Bogdan from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany searched a number of elliptical galaxies for this X-ray glow, they found that it was up to 50 times fainter than expected. This means that there must be fewer accreting white dwarfs than had been thought, but this doesn’t match up with the supernova rate. Something else must be to blame for the majority of Type Ia supernovae.

Gilfanov and Bogdan turned to an alternative theory that suggests most Type Ia supernovae are caused by two white dwarfs merging. With no accretion discs involved, there would be no X-ray output. “To many astrophysicists, the merger scenario seemed less likely because too few double-white-dwarf systems appeared to exist,” says Gilfanov. “Now this path to supernovae will have to be investigated in more detail.”

Accretion from a normal star onto a white dwarf does not appear to be the cause of most Type Ia supernovae in elliptical galaxies, judging by the lack of X-rays that would be coming from their accretion discs. Image: NASA/CXC/M Weiss.

That’s not the only caveat. Gilfanov and Bogdan chose elliptical galaxies for their study because they have less neutral gas and dust to absorb the X-rays than spiral galaxies have. It is possible that in spiral galaxies most type Ia supernovae are created by accreting white dwarfs, and this will be tested in a follow-up study. On the other hand, perhaps the accreting white dwarfs are there in the ellipticals, but their X-rays are being blocked somehow, or maybe in reality accreting white dwarfs produce fewer X-rays than theory predicts. Despite these uncertainties, Professor Mario Livio of the Space Telescope Science Institute in the United States is impressed with the results.

“They [Gilfanov and Bogdan] have taken a fresh approach and looked at what happens before the explosion occurs,” he says. “They looked at global properties of galaxies and concluded that mergers were more likely in ellipticals. There is no question that these findings place very real constraints on Type Ia supernovae.”

Even if the merger scenario is accepted, problems still exist. To date there is still no convincing model as to how exactly a white dwarf merger would create a supernova; in fact, some recent theoretical models show that they would collapse into a neutron star rather than explode. Assuming they do explode, estimates suggest that their brightness would not be too different to supernovae generated by single white dwarfs, but the masses of the white dwarfs merging could be different, meaning that no two Type Ia supernovae would be precisely alike. Whilst the differences in luminosity and how they fade from peak brightness would not be sufficient to discredit the existence of dark energy, they would have an impact on attempts to measure the strength of dark energy and the speed of the expansion of the Universe throughout cosmic history. This is crucial for determining the fate of the evolution of the Universe, and whether it is destined to expand forever.

The PlanetsFrom tiny Mercury to distant Neptune and Pluto, The Planets profiles each of the Solar System's members in depth, featuring the latest imagery from space missions. The tallest mountains, the deepest canyons, the strongest winds, raging atmospheric storms, terrain studded with craters and vast worlds of ice are just some of the sights you'll see on this 100-page tour of the planets. GET YOUR COPY

Hubble RebornHubble Reborn takes the reader on a journey through the Universe with spectacular full-colour pictures of galaxies, nebulae, planets and stars as seen through Hubble's eyes, along the way telling the dramatic story of the space telescope, including interviews with key scientists and astronauts. GET YOUR COPY

3D UniverseWitness the most awesome sights of the Universe as they were meant to be seen in this 100-page extravaganza of planets, galaxies and star-scapes, all in 3D! GET YOUR COPY